Miami: Good Defenders Must Be Nasty Hurricanes Don't Care If They're Playing Oklahoma Or Texas Tech

Somewhere in the middle is University of Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson, a former player. Though concerned with the public view of his team, he knows first-hand that to play good defense you have to be nasty.

And so it is that Johnson has unleashed the ''Dogs of War,'' or at least Miami's version, this season. As much as President Edward ''Tad'' Foote has tried to downplay the image -- some have called the Hurricanes the college version of the NFL's Los Angeles Raiders -- the reality is that the Hurricanes defense is mad-dog mean, playing in a rabid frenzy that hounds and surrounds running backs and receivers.

''A typical Miami defensive player is very competitive,'' middle linebacker George Mira Jr. said. ''Some teams play on emotion, but we play with intensity. You can have a lot of emotion -- clap your hands, rah-rah and all that kind of stuff -- and then you look pretty stupid when somebody puts his helmet through your chest. We play with intensity.''

Tackle Derwin Jones has an even more basic description of this unit. ''We just don't care,'' Jones said. ''It doesn't matter if we're playing Oklahoma or Texas Tech. Anything that's not Miami, we don't like.''

When Johnson became coach of the Hurricanes in 1984, one of the biggest criticisms was that he was trying to play the defense of his predecessor, Howard Schnellenberger, who used the 5-2 to gain a national wire-service championship. It was a cerebral defense, and its players were obliged to make reads, then react.

Johnson, fresh out of the Big Eight, where super athletes abound, believed you needed athletes on defense to counter the talent on offense, and they had to force the offense into mistakes. Arriving in midsummer, however, Johnson did not have time to install the defense he wanted. He went with Schnellenberger's philosophy, and it cost him dearly.

Despite having better athletes, the Hurricanes allowed themselves to get beaten by Boston College's small quarterback, Doug Flutie, and a slow receiver, Gerard Phelan, on a last-second touchdown pass for a 47-45 loss at the Orange Bowl. The Hurricanes went on to lose their final game of that season, the Fiesta Bowl, ending with three consecutive losses.

That was enough for Johnson. When the Hurricanes returned to work in the spring, Johnson had a surprise for them. A 4-3 defense.

''This is a players' defense,'' linebacker Winston Moss said. ''It lets you go out and make plays, make things happen, instead of watching some guard pull or something.''

The Hurricanes defense thrives on its success, becoming more intimidating with each play it makes. So far this year 17 of Miami's 38 touchdowns were started by either pass interceptions, fumble recoveries or blocked punts.